Orihuela council claim that six thousand unregistered foreigners live in the area, and that’s costing them vital regional and national grants.
A campaign has been launched which will run until mid-April to get people onto the municipal padron and to make sure that EU nationals, including British residents, have renewed their padron documentation, which they have to do every six years.
International Residents councillor, Sofía Álvarez, and head of statistics for the council, Noelia Grao, said that there are over 33 thousand registered foreigners in the municipality according to official figures, which accounts for 39 percent of the local population.
They emphasised that everybody has to be on the padron if they spend more than three months a year living in the area, and that the figures are used by the National Statistics Institute to calculate money that is given to the council.
The councillors said that although the campaign is aimed at all foreigners in the area, it was very much in the interest of British residents to make sure they were on the padron, given what might or might not happen in regard to access to healthcare and education once Brexit negotiations are concluded.
